


Christmas in the Sound

by karakael



Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-01
Updated: 2016-04-01
Packaged: 2018-05-30 11:21:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6421921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/karakael/pseuds/karakael
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kabuto hands out gifts to the other former members of the Sound, and gets a gift in return.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Christmas in the Sound

Suigetsu was the first to open his present, tearing the small card open immediately after receiving it from Kabuto. His eyes squinted, reading the tiny, perfect script that his former superior always used. 

Then his eyes went wide.

"Is this - "

"Where I found their bodies, yes. Not all the swords are there..."

"But its a start." Suigetsu blinked, stunned. "Why - "

"Its an apology." Kabuto looked away, shrugging. "Not enough, but - "

"I can go home with this! They'll take me back! And I can restart the Seven Swordsmen - Kabuto, this is the best gift you could have given me!" Suigetsu sniffed loudly, his eyes beginning to run. "And I didn't think - I didn't think you remembered - "

Awkwardly, the Sage patted Suigetsu on the shoulder. 

"And...and I didn't get you a gift in return. Damn, way to make me feel like a Jerk!" Sui rubbed his eyes, grousing despite the tears.

"Just take Karin with you when you go. That'll be gift enough."

Karin looked up from her punch, confused. Then realization dawned, and she scrabbled in the papers around her for her own card. Hands shaking, she slit the paper and pulled out the card.

"Merry Christmas." She read. "Here's to found family - Kabuto, you _didn't_."

"Its only based on rumors." He said, raising his hands, as if to ward off too much hope. "And sensing Uzumaki chakra. But those are all the towns where red-headed ninja have been seen, and the villages that claim to have Uzumaki sealers."

He didn't expect the hug, and was bowled over when Karin leapt from her chair and squeezed him tight enough to steal his breath.

Juugo was slower opening his card, cutting carefully, trying not to crumple the paper in his big hands. Unlike the rest, there was just a single name written under the dedication. 

" - to health." He read quietly to himself, then looked into Kabuto's eyes. "Is this a doctor?"

"...a therapist. Part of Root, ages ago. But she defected and now she works in the Land of Sound. If anyone can help you, it will be her."

Juugo wasn't as loud with his thanks. There had been too many false promises and failed experiments in the past. But he nodded, and smiled in his careful way. In some respects, it was an a warmer thanks than any other, and Kabuto felt his heart pinch at the big boy's careful smile and even more careful way he put the card back into the envelope and placed it in his breast pocket.

"Very clever gifts, Kabuto." 

The Sage paused, then turned to Orochimaru. The older man held his card to his lips, eyes narrowed.

"But what could you have given me?"

Kabuto swallowed. Ever since the war their relationship had been brittle, each circling the other and attempting to reevaluate what they meant to the other. It was hard, damn hard, living with a protege who had finally found his wings and a master who was still learning to change.

But he couldn't help it. The smirk hesitantly crossed his face, and he lightly said. "Is my presence not gift enough?"

Orochimaru looked long at him, eyes knit, trying to understand the puzzle that had become his former apprentice. What, indeed, could he have given?

He opened the card with a shuriken, and pulled out the elegantly decorated card. There were no words inside. No dedication, no thank you. Just two strands of hair, one black, one white.

Orochimaru froze. He didn't even breath, yet his hands trembled on the card.

Finally, Kabuto reached up and closed the card again, and pulled it from his former master's unresistant hands. 

"I've collected enough of the remaining Zetsu's to do dozens of experiments with no loss of life. They don't last as long now, but it should be enough for an hour or two." He paused, and looked away. "Its the least I could do."

"Kabuto." The snake breathed his name, and Kabuto felt the old shudder of equal parts terror and thrill run up his spine. 

"....lord?" He prompted, swallowing heavily and waiting for what could just as likely be a blow or a smile.

"..." Orochimaru seemed to shake himself. Then, in one elegant move, he snatched the card away from Kabuto and hurled it into the fire. Then he turned on the rest of the stunned room.

"Thank you, Kabuto, but I don't need memories of the past." A beat, and then for the first time in months, Orochimaru reached out to touch Kabuto, tracing the line of his cheek and shaggy hair.

"The only family I care about is here."

Then it was Orochimaru's turn to be wrapped in a hug, and Kabuto threw his arms around him, tightening his grip until he drove the breath from his master's chest, and burying his face in the man's shoulder. The younger man's shoulders shock, and the sobs tore through him until his master returned the hug, one hand on his pupil's fair hair, the other across his back, the shock of that need and longing bitter enough to even reach through the Sennin's cold heart.

None of the rest of them heard the word the younger man whispered to the older one, but the effect on Orochimaru was obvious to all. A flush rose to his cheeks, and he turned to bring Kabuto closer, possession written in confused but prideful strokes across his face.

Kabuto whispered it again, heart beating in his chest, Christmas finally returning everything he had longed for the last twenty years. A home, friends, and most important of all...

"Father."


End file.
